Since we were in Kentucky anyway for our trip, we decided to visit Mammoth Cave National Park. Before our trip we researched the different tour options, and delayed buying tickets a little too long. Unfortunately for us, by the time Danae and I tried to buy tickets for a cave tour they were sold out! We tried calling the park several times and never got an answer, so we decided to stop by Mammoth while we were there to see if it was worthwhile without a guided tour.
I must say, before researching this trip, I was not aware how many caves are in Kentucky. There are caves all over the place down there! When we realized we weren't going to be able to take an official tour at Mammoth, I did a little research and found so many private caves in the area. We decided to book a tour at one of the private caves as well, just in case we couldn't get into Mammoth Cave.
We drove down to the Bowling Green area on the third day in Kentucky, and arrived at Mammoth Cave around lunchtime. We were happy to find out that we could indeed buy tickets for a self-guided tour! I was so happy we still got to see Mammoth Cave, and now we can cross one more national park off our list!
The cave itself was more impressive than I expected. I have been in Carlsbad Caverns before and thought Mammoth Cave couldn't be much different than that, but I can say now that I think they are both their own, unique experience. The caverns we saw in Mammoth cave were huge! There was also a park ranger inside the cave to answer questions, and he gave us some interesting information about the way Native Americans explored the caves. Another park ranger stopped us to show us a bat hiding right on the wall of the cave. I was also interested to see that there was a World War One memorial inside the cave, erected by mothers of fallen soldiers.
After we checked out Mammoth Cave, we drove the rest of the way to Bowling Green and visited Lost River Cave for a boat cave tour. Yes, we really rode a boat into a cave! It was a pretty cool experience in itself, and the history of this particular cave was pretty colorful. We found out it was a popular courting spot during the Civil War, that the cave used to host a nightclub in the 1920's, that it's flooded countless times, and was even at one point filled with trash before it was cleaned out and preserved in the 80's! Apparently they still host wedding receptions on the old nightclub platform, and I thought it was such a cool spot.
We enjoyed another dinner together with our friends on this last night before we made the long drive back home. I am so grateful we were able to do this trip with such dear friends! All three of our destinations - the Ark, the Creation Museum, and the caves - were that much more special to do with good friends, and I'm so happy we'll always have this fun memory to look back on together! Thanks, Danae and family, for taking my crazy suggestion to go to the Ark together seriously! I'll always be thankful we went!
Love these pictures! I hope to explore caves one day - but I do have to work myself up to it. They make me nervous! We did drive through a cave in Kentucky one year to see Christmas lights. I loved it from inside a car! (#nobats.)
Post a Comment